Mr. President. I am pleased to join today with my colleagues on the Immigration Subcommittee. Senator SIMPSON and Senator SIMON. in introducing some remedial legislation relating to certain narrow nonimmigrant visa categories created in last years immigration reform legislation. One of the more controversial provisions of the Immigration Act of 1990 has turned out to be the creation of new 0 and P nonimmigrant visas for performing artists and athletes. In the final drafting of the conference report on this section of the bill. the terms governing the issuance of these visas went considerably beyond what was understood during our discussions at the time. As one of the principal conferees on last years bill. I can assure my colleagues. and state for the record. that we accepted the Housedrafted provisions without Senate hearings. with no action on the Senate floor. only because we believed the changes proposed were not controversial. had been discussed with all the affected groups. and would not substantially alter existing procedures and practices. Unfortunately. the end result has been quite different and a substantial departure from existing visa regulations. To correct this. Mr. President. we have met over the last several months with representatives of organized labor and those representing the fields of the arts. culture. entertainment and athletics. The arts community had expressed alarm over the new 0 and P visa provisions. They perceived last years changes as being not only a major departure from current practice. but a serious threat to their artistic programs. To provide remedial changes while we study this issue further. over the past several months our subcommittee staff have undertaken lengthy consultations with all parties to reach a compromise.
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Immigration immigration visas visa